Welcome to the home of the backcountry skiing blog from Off-Piste Magazine. Here we post backcountry ski gear reviews, feature stories and avalanche safety advice, plus ski news, events and more.
G3 SENDr 112 – Ski Review We have been fans of the G3 Empire for several seasons. It’s lightweight carbon build plus healthy width and rocker combined to deliver a surfy and playful ride in any soft snow conditions. Well, the next evolution is here and it’s a lot of fun, too: the 2018 G3 SENDr 112. The SENDr 112… Read More
Osprey SnowKit Duffel The joys of air travel for skiing – it’s a mix of anticipation for the adventure to come and the possibility that your gear may not arrive when you do. It only takes getting skunked on arrival without some piece of critical gear – like your boots or skins – once to appreciate the ability to carry… Read More
Climbing Skin Maintenance and Glue Renewal Climbing skin glue does not last forever. It gets dirty, it gets patchy and it can get gooey. All of these problems leave your climbing skins performing poorly, and there’s nothing like lame skin glue to wreck an otherwise excellent day of skiing. But there are some climbing skin maintenance tips to help you avoid… Read More
As Promised, here’s Episode 1: The Space Within – the first installment of four DPS Cinematic Short Films. And here’s the official word from the DPS team: Exploring the tidepools of a deserted tropical beach, a young boy finds a mysterious treasure washed upon the rocks. ‘The Space Within’ whispers of another world, holding magic unlike anything he has seen… Read More
DPS Skis has just announced Volume IV of their ‘”Shadow Campaign” Film Series. As usual we can look forward to four new films. This year, the DPS Cinematic crew traveled to Kyrgyzstan, Japan and Alaska in search of adventure on snow. Individual episodes are scheduled for release on the third Thursday of September, October, November and December of 2017 –… Read More
It’s that time of year again. September is knocking at the door and the ski movie trailers are here to distract us from our precious workday schedules . . . Here’s what TGR has to say about their latest ski movie, Rogue Elements: Since the dawn of time, everything that has lived and breathed on this planet has been subject to… Read More
Patagonia Nano Air Light Hoody Finding the magic layering system that is warm yet breathable enough handle breaking trail and uphill travel is no simple feat. First off, everyday is different – sun, wind, temp, precip – they all vary by day and even aspect. Second, everybody is different – some of us run hot, others run cool. So how… Read More
Voile Shovel and Probe Giveaway We’ve teamed up with Voile to give you a chance to win a Telepack-mini Shovel and Tourlight Avalanche Probe. Just sign up below for our e-news letter (sent more or less monthly) before December 4, 2016 and you will be entered into the drawing. If you already receive our e-news, you can still enter to win the shovels… Read More
Winter Snow Forecast 2016-17 UPDATE – October 15, 2016 – NOAA Climate Center moves back to La Niña forecast! Skiers and weather forecasters talk a lot about El Niño and La Niña when gazing into their crystal balls in search of the winter snow forecast. And for good reason, El Niño (warm Equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures) and La Niña (cool Equatorial… Read More
Tuesday Time Waster – Candide Thovex Edit The weather seems to have turned toward fall as the calendar turned to September this year. The Northwest mountains have only seen a trace of snow but the cool temps and grey skies help fuel thoughts of the winter ahead. But who needs snow to ski. Apparently, Candide Thovex doesn’t. This clip is… Read More
The opportunity to ski a wide variety of backcountry skis back to back for direct comparisons is the foundation of our ski testing program and our subsequent ski review write-ups. This season’s fresh crop of backcountry skis includes a few highly regarded favorites like the Voile V6, the DPS Wailer 112 and the Volkl BMT 94 but it also includes… Read More
As a skier first and a mountaineer second, it’s not that often I use a harness while ski touring. But when the going gets technical or crevassed, you don’t want to be left wishing you had a harness with you. Here are two great ski mountaineering harnesses that give you no excuse to leave them at home. They are so… Read More
Spring ski testing is behind us! We tested and compared over 30 new backcountry skis in April. Everyone rolls their eyes when they hear how much work is involved with ski testing – kind of like saying, “. . . and then we had to try another beer to compare flavors . . .” Anyway, it is a fair bit of… Read More
Mount Hood is a Northwest mountaineering icon and offers climbing and ski descent routes for a wide range of ambitions from modest South Side routes to the technical North Chutes. If you have ever thought about climbing Mt Hood or have climbed it many times, check out our Mt. Hood Climbing Routes poster. The poster shows all of the classic… Read More
2016 Ski Reviews As winter fades, it’s time to release our 2016 ski reviews into the archives. If you’re still in the market for new skis, now is the time to score a deal on hold-over inventory. Take a look at what our ski reviews have to say and stock your quiver with an end of the season deal. We ski… Read More
